Process of providing cigars with smoke-improving portions at the pointed ends.



-- UNITED STATES Patented April 19, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

HERMANN FRIEDRICH MARTA THOMS, OF STEGLITZ, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO HERMANN OTTO WENDT, OF BREMEN, GERMANY.

PROCES OF PROVIDING CIGARS WITH SMOKE-IMPROVING PORTIONS AT THE POINTE D' ENDS.

srncrrrca'rron forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,514, dated April 19, 1904..

" A V Application filed July 30,1903. Serial No. 167,655. (No specimens.)

To all whoin, it mag concern,-

Be itknown that;II, HERMANN FRIEDRICH \MARIA THoMs, professor and doctor of philosophy, a subject of the, King of Prussia,

,German Emperor, whose post-ofiice address is No. 3 Hohenzollernstrasse, Steglitz, near Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented 'a new and useful Process of Providing Cigars with Smoke-Improving Por tions at the Pointed Ends; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of my invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. 5;

,3 This invention relates in general to the art of improving the smoke of tobacco by chemiclly binding or otherwise rendering innocuous its poisonous constituents.

'* As is well known, the smoke of tobacco .contains as poisonous constituents nicotin in the chemically-unaltered state, decomposition products thereof-as, for instance, pyridin,

picoline, and other similar basic compounds, ammonia, sulfureted hydrogen, and even hydrocyanic" acid in larger or smaller traces. In order to get rid of those poisonous constituents, it has been proposed to subject the smoke to the combined action of organic acids, such as tannic, tartaric, and citric acids, and of compounds of palladium and platinum. The use of certain molybdates has also been proposed. By these means a satisfactory solution of the problem cannot be obtained for the reason that the said platinum or palladium salts have not a sufficiently strong precipitating action upon the poisonous bases to compensate the eliminated action of said acids. Moreover, the sulfureted hydrogen, hydrocyanic acid, and other constituents are left unaltered, all as is well known to those familiar with the chemistry of the tobacco-smoke constituents. The molybdates also are only weak precipitants with regard to the bases in question. ous basic constituents of the tobacco-smoke can in a very sufficient manner be bound into stable salts and the sulfureted hydrogen and hydrocyanic acid eliminated from the smoke by acting upon the latter with single or double Now I have discovered that the poisoncobalt, with suitable mineral acids, such as sulfuric and hydrochloric acids or with organic acids, preferably citric and tartaric acids. By causing said compounds to react with tobacco-smoke they are split up by the basic constituents of the smoke, which combine with the sulfuric or other acid to form salts, and the metal set free in the form of hydroxid reacts with the sulfureted hydrogen, decomposing the same and combining with the sulfur, and, moreover, decomposes hydrocyanic acid, if present. Very good re sults will in general be obtained by the sulfates of the metals of the iron groupfor instance, ferrous sulfate; but still better results are obtained by the use of the double sulfate of ferrous oxid and ammonia or ferric chlorid or ferrous tartrate and the corresponding salts of the other metals of said group.

The efliciency of my improved means and r the by far greater beneficial result obtainable thereby may be seen from the results of the following comparative experiments. A cigar weighing 5.2 grams and having 2.78 per cent. or 0.14456 gram of nicotin was artificially smoked and the smoke first led through a tube filled with cotton wad that had been previously impregnated with a solution of the double sulfate of ferrous oxid and ammonia and perfectly dried and then absorbed by a suit able liquid. After the cigar had been smoked and all of the smoke treated and absorbed the liquor was precipitated with potassium bismuth iodid. The analysis of the precipitate obtained show that only 0.057824 grain or 16.1 per cent. of the nicotin present in the cigar were left in the smoke, whereas 83.9 per cent. were retained by the reaction with the said double sulfate. Operating in a similar manner upon the smoke by means of tannic acid and platinum and palladium salts, the best eifect attainable amounted only to the elimination of about sixty-five per cent. of the nicotin present; but in most cases the eifect obtained did not reach that optimum result.

Based upon my said new discovery the present invention substantially consists in utilizing the same for improving the smoke of cigars in such a manner that the cigar is provided in its pointed portion and below the wrapper with a suflicient quantity of a salt or salts of metals of the iron group, the salt or salts being intimatelyi incorporated in the tobacco composing said end portion, so that this portion itself constitutes a retainer for and destroyer of the poisonous constituents of the cigar-smoke. I

In carrying out my invention-I, for instance, proceed as follows: I prepare a solution of one kilogram of ferrous sulfate in 'four kilograms distilled water. In this solution, to

which may be added some glycerin toact {as a binder for securing the adherence of the saidsalt to the tobacco'after drying, I dip the unwrapped fillers with a sufiicient length of their pointed end portion and allow said end portion to remain in contact with the liquor until they are sufliciently impregnated with the liquor. In general I prefer to have the said end portion impregnated with from thirty to fifty per cent. of the selected salt. In order to facilitate the penetration of the liquor into the tobacco, the pointed end" portion of the cigar may be perforated by small holes or slits extending inwardly toward the center line of the cigar. After impregnation the fillers are removed from the liquorand allowed to perfectly dry, when they are provided with the usual wrapper.

I wish it to be understood that the above composition is not intended to limit my 'in' vention to the proportions described, which can be varied within Wide limits, as they depend upon the amount of nicotin present in the tobacco, Which is also determinative for the length of the end portion to be dipped into theliquor and the period of time required for the contact of the fillers with the liquor, as will be easily understood by those skilled in the art- What I claim as my invention isg smokeimproving portion at the pointed end which essentially consists in making the fillers, impregnating the pointed end portion of same with a solution of a salt composed of a metal of the iron group, drying, and wrapping, substantially as and for the purpose specified. j. v

.2. The process of. providing cigars witha smoke-improving portion at the pointed end portion which essentially consists vin making -the fillers, impregnating the pointed end portion of same with a solution of ferrous sulfate, dryingvand. wrapping, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The process of providing cigars with a smoke-improving portion at the pointed end which essentially consists in making the fillers, providing "the same at the zone of the pointed end with small holes extending inwardly, dipping the fillers with said .ends into a solution of ferrous sulfate, allowing the said end portions to remain fora time in contact with said liquor, removing the fillers from the liquor, causing them to dry and then applying the wrapper, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

Ae -Asanew-article of manufacture a cigar made with a filler a portion of the pointed end of which is impregnated with salts of metals of the iron group, and a wrapper which is not impregnated with such salt, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. As a new article of manufacture a cigar made with a filler a portion of the pointed end of which is impregnated with ferrous sul- IIGSSBS.

HERMANN FRIEDRICH MARIA THOMS.

Witnesses: v

v HENRYHASBER, WILLIAM'MAYNER. I

fate, and a-wrapper which is not impregnated I 

